


Drip Drop

by gold_sakura



Series: Fictober Prompts [4]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Childhood, Fluff, M/M, Puddles - Freeform, Rain, all of VIXX are tiny children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:56:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8206016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gold_sakura/pseuds/gold_sakura
Summary: Taekwoon nodded, observing how Hongbin fidgeted under his prolonged stare. If he weren’t so quiet himself, he would definitely wonder why such a reserved boy would want to be a part of their group. The two remained silent until Jaehwan pushed Hongbin closer, edging him to kneel beside Taekwoon with a huge grin.
“Binnie here doesn’t want to play tag with us right now, so we were gonna ask if it would be okay if he stayed with you while you . . . well, whatever you do with puddles.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! Here with another installment for Fictober! The prompt that was voted for day 4 was Sidewalk Puddles!   
> I was planning for an angst sort of plot, but instead my heart went towards soft, children fluff. Hope you enjoy!

After rainy days, Taekwoon would notice that puddles would form all over his neighborhood. He was curious as to how each of them stayed intact for so long, seemingly appearing in the most flat surfaces, including the streets and sidewalks. He wasn’t one to disturb their presence, instead preferring to view the tiny ripples move outwards as the vibrations of the world forbade them to stay absolutely still. It was an odd habit for a child, but his parents never questioned him about it. Of course they still made sure he stayed safe, but never kept him from exploring his interests.

Just because his parents were accepting of his behavior, that didn’t mean that everyone else did. Taekwoon’s favorite puddle would be near the entrance of his apartment complex, the boy kneeling over to stick his finger in the small body of water and giggling. He ignored the judging glares he received from the adults that lived near him, most of them subtly trying to get his hands out of the ‘germ-infested’ liquid. Taekwoon had asked his mother about how bad rainwater was for him when one older woman had told him that he could get a horrible disease if he touched it on the floor all the time. Everything was settled when he brought a small bottle of hand sanitizer in his pocket each time he wanted to play and decided that when it came to fun, all adults besides his parents were big, fat liars.

Other kids were a huge issue for Taekwoon as well, especially when he was taken to the local park. With the huge crowd and loud noises, the boy opted to stay away from the playground built there, hunched over more close to the parking lot where calm waters laid. That peace would last only for a few moments, his classmates recognizing his back right away and rushing over to talk to him.

“Woonie! Hi!” Hakyeon would always be the first to glomp onto him even when the younger tried to shrug him off. For a short eight year old, he had too much strength for Taekwoon to handle, so he usually let the other boy do as he pleased, which made Hakyeon more than happy to cuddle even more.

“Taekwoon’s here? Where?” Jaehwan, the most excitable of the bunch would look around frantically, even when the boy he was looking for was right in front of him. His silly antics would make the other boys with him laugh, to the point where they would fall to the floor, wiping their faces from shedding tears.

“You have to pay more attention, Jaehwan. If you can’t spot Taekwoon, then neither can I.” Sanghyuk, the youngest boy to join their play group was the instigator, taking a chance to take a scenario or action each boy did to the maximum. It wasn’t apparent when one looked at his sweet face, but was definitely more clear with the scrapes and bruises decorating his body.

“Hey, Taekwoon can be seen anytime. It’s not like he’s a ghost. . .Right?” Wonshik, even as a young boy, was known to have a tough appearance, scaring most of the kids his age away with a single glance. He was grateful that this small group had grown to accept him, but also regretted letting them know that he was a huge scaredy cat most of the time.

“That would be cool if we had a ghost at our school though.”

“That’s not funny Hyuk.”

“I didn’t say it was funny.”

“Stop it!”

“Alright, alright. Enough with the fooling around guys. We have to tell Woonie the super, duper important news.” Hakyeon stood straight, his hands at his hips.

“Oh right!” Wonshik recovered from his fear, moving a bit to the side to reveal a new boy behind him, a nervous smile on his face and giving a shy wave to Taekwoon.

“Hi there.”

“This is Hongbin. He’s the same age as me and wanted to know if it was okay to be with us. Turns out he is going to be a new kid at school next week.” 

Taekwoon nodded, observing how Hongbin fidgeted under his prolonged stare. If he weren’t so quiet himself, he would definitely wonder why such a reserved boy would want to be a part of their group. The two remained silent until Jaehwan pushed Hongbin closer, edging him to kneel beside Taekwoon with a huge grin.

“Binnie here doesn’t want to play tag with us right now, so we were gonna ask if it would be okay if he stayed with you while you . . . well, whatever you do with puddles.”

“I still don’t see why you don’t splash in them, that’s what makes them so fun.” Hyuk jumped high in the air, going above the boys on the floor. He was about to crash into Taekwoon’s most recent fascination, but Wonshik managed to catch him before his toes touched the surface.

“You’re lucky I saved you from being punched in the nose.”

“I would have been fine. Taekwoon isn’t so tough.” 

It only took the older standing up to break Sanghyuk’s facade, the younger running to be protected by Hakyeon. 

“On second thought, maybe we should go play tag now.”

All the boys watched as Hyuk sped off to the other side of the park, cracking up once he was out of hearing distance. Even Taekwoon smirked a little before returning back to his position, sticking his pointer finger in the center of the water.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come play, Hongbin? Taekwoon is just going to be doing that for the rest of the day.”

“I’m okay, Hakyeon. I’ll come join you later.”

“If you say so. Come on you guys. We can’t leave Hyukkie alone for too long.”

“Instead of tag, we should play monster.”

“N-n-no! You guys never let me be it on purpose.”

The boisterous trio ran off, leaving the two boys alone, the wind and the cars driving by the only sounds surrounding them. Soon enough, Taekwoon was in his own world again, gasping each time a stray leave landed on the puddle. The ripples would be chaotic then, spreading from various points instead of one stable impact. He would remove any debris after a few seconds, a repeated process that might have seen boring to others, but was so satisfactory for Taekwoon. He almost forgot about Hongbin and he would have if the other boy’s image wasn’t reflected in the puddle. His head sat atop his knees, his doe-like eyes concentrating on the way his features wobbled to and fro.

Hongbin giggled when his nose became bigger than his forehead, broke into infectious laughter when his head was weird and lumpy. When he realized he was being loud, he shut his mouth and looked cautiously at Taekwoon. Surprisingly, the other boy looked at him fondly.

“Do you like puddles?”

“Well, to be honest I haven’t really looked at them like this.” Hongbin stuck out his tongue, making silly faces before continuing. “But now that I have, I can see why you like them. The tiny waves remind me of the funny mirrors they have at the circus.”

“Want to see something really cool?”

“Cool?” Taekwoon nodded, causing Hongbin to return the gesture fervently. “Yeah, show me please.”

He wasn’t expecting Taekwoon to grab his arm or place his palm on top of the water’s surface. The older boy lifted up Hongbin’s hand slowly, waiting until many droplets fell from different areas, the ones around the fingers being bigger than the rest. It was another moment that Hongbin had experienced but never took the time to see how patience would change it into something magical. He felt as if he was creating his own tiny rain cloud, watching himself, Taekwoon and the trees behind them curve and bend. The wondrous event was over as quick as it happened, so Hongbin looked to Taekwoon to silently ask if he could try it again. Of course the older boy nodded, proud to see that the other boy found joy in the weird parts of puddles too.

They took turns creating their own storms, not even minding when actual sprinkles drenched their backs. Many parents were urging their kids to rush back to their cars, not wanting any of them to get sick in case heavy rain followed afterwards. Not wanting to get in trouble, a lot of the kids obeyed, sprinting to the parking lot as fast as their tiny legs could take them. None of them noticed what Hongbin and Taekwoon were doing and proceeded to step in their puddle. The splashes spread the water everywhere. It drenched both of the boys, which only made the younger incredibly mad.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Hongbin raised a fist in the air, growing more angered when no one was paying attention to him. “I’m talking to you guys!”

“Hongbin -”

“I don’t step on your sand castles, so you shouldn’t step on our puddles! Got it?”

“Hongbin -”

“If one more of you guys steps in what’s left, you are going to know what a knuckle sandwich tastes like!”

“Hongbin, please.”

“No, Taekwoon. It’s not okay.” Hongbin crossed his arms, sticking his lips out. “I know not everyone plays like we do, but they should still be careful. . .They better be or I’ll fight -”

Taekwoon rose up, his legs trembling from squatting down for so long. Once he regained all of the feeling back in his feet, he tugged at Hongbin’s sleeve, taking him to the edge of the sidewalk. What lay there was an even wider puddle, big enough to mess with it together. 

“They didn’t mean to ruin our fun.” He plopped down too fast, making Hongbin fall over on his butt. He was ready to scream at the older boy, but sighed when Taekwoon resumed his experiments with droplets. “Besides, we have a whole park full of puddles. We can play until we have to go home too, okay?”

Hongbin looked around to see most of the cars gone, only two parked side by side. He saw his mom waiting in the front seat of her SUV, grinning, giving him two thumbs up and being totally embarrassing. He saw Taekwoon’s parents waiting for their son in their seats as well, each of them taking out a book when they glanced over at the boys to see if they were okay. The younger boy suddenly felt excitement throughout his body, looking at the puddle and his new friend.

“Alright! You have to show me all your tricks, Taekwoon! If you don’t I won't't share my own secrets, got it?”

"Got it."

The boys continued to play, sharing small laughs and giant smiles each time a rainy day passed by their neighborhood.

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a note, here are the ages for each of the boys  
> Hakyeon and Taekwoon- 8  
> Jaehwan - 7  
> Wonshik and Hongbin - 6  
> Sanghyuk - 5
> 
> Not accurate to their real age gaps whatsoever but oh well.  
> Hope you enjoyed anyways! See you in the next part of this series~


End file.
